Hard Working
by carolinej
Summary: Harry learns that being independent is far from lonely. Warning: AU NonMagic American


I started at Stonewall Junior and Senior High School back when I was 11 years old, when my cousin, Dudley, went on to Smeltings. Aunt Petunia thought that the Stonewall School District was crap, and wouldn't see her Diddums go to a school where metal detectors were a required for good reason. What she didn't see, though, was that Diddledum would have only given more reason for increased security and patrolling guards with hard sticks that left welts for days. Unfortunately, not all of Dudley's gang was as lucky as him in getting out of Stonewall's education system, and they made up the nastiest pack of bullies in the school.

Piers Polkiss won in a fight his first week there against a tough junior with a knife. He didn't even get in trouble, because he was just a little unarmed 7th grader (son of an influential and loud-mouth troublemaking PTA president) who got picked on by someone twice his size. That set a precedent for the Polkiss Pack, which was known as the toughest meanest gang at Stonewall. Because the kids were politically untouchable, their victims got in twice as much trouble by the guards and the principal. As I was their number one daily target, and the Dursley didn't get a half-cent what happened to me, I was deemed the school troublemaker.

"I know, Mr. Potter, it's always the other boy who's started it, we've been through this many times before. How many times are you going to use that excuse before you realize it just doesn't stand?" Principal O'Malley had a fake laugh that only reinforced the fact that he was laughing at me, and that he thought I was pathetic. I sighed and looked out the window. Figuring he had made his point, he pushed on, "Now, as detentions obviously do nothing to deter you, I'm left with nothing but to assign you in-school suspension. You'll be sitting the next three days in room 303 with Guard Winthrop.

"Bring your school books and other reading materials – no magazines or comic books! – and your teachers will send up the work you'll be missing. If you keep on the path your on now, you'll end up in jail. Maybe sitting a day locked in a room will remind you of that future. I hope, if nothing else, the sheer boredom will get to you." It was a wonderful punishment, in my opinion, because Piers and his friends couldn't get to me for three whole days. At home, I was grounded to my room, so didn't have to deal with the Dursleys either.

Uncle Vernon quickly got sick of all the calls home about my detentions and in-school suspensions, and he took it out on me. Right before Christmas break that first year was when he first took his belt to me. I missed the last three days of term because Aunt Petunia was afraid that everyone would see me injured and call the authorities. Nobody cared enough to do so, even he repeated it the abuse a month later. After a while, all my black-eyes and bruises from Uncle Vernon mixed in with the whatnot from the Polkiss Pack and it only reinforced my impression as a troublemaker.

When I was 13, I found an after-school job working at Nikols' General Store doing things like stocking the shelves, sweeping up, and running errands. It took some looking to even find a job, and even more convincing to get Nikols to hire me.

For a week I had gone to different stores and restaurants in the neighborhood begging with them to hire me, and they all kicked me out before I even got the question out. I was more than a little anxious when I went up to Nikols and asked, "Are you the owner?" even though I knew he was.

"As I matter of fact I am," he laughed, looking at me from behind the counter, "What can I do for you, kid?"

I took a big breath before I started, pulling up all my courage, and went on in rush, half-hoping he wouldn't cut me off, "Do you– do you have any job I can do? I mean, I can work after school 'til 8 and on weekends. I'm a hard worker – I can sweep, clean, stock shelves, anything you need really. I know I'm pretty young for a job, but I will work really hard, and you don't have to pay me as much as you pay anybody else who works here…"

The owner took a long appraising look at me and I was sure right then that I had no chance. "What's a kid like you doing looking for a job? Don't get enough allowance?" Even worse, the man was making fun of me now.

I sighed, "No, sir, I mean… Sir, my uncle just thinks I need to start making my own way and learn something about responsibility." It was not exactly a lie, because Uncle Vernon was always saying things like that. He'd never told me to get a job, though. If he had, he would have told me to give him all the earnings in the next breath.

"Your uncle, eh?" Nikols considered, "I suppose you get in a lot of trouble at home for him to think something like that. I don't need someone causing trouble in my store. I get enough of that from your little friends coming in here stealing candy when they think I can't see it." He was obviously talking about Piers and Dudley who always bragged about robbing Old Nikols.

I rushed to correct him, "My friends? Oh, no, sir, I don't cause trouble like that, and I would never steal."

"Hmmm. I still don't know. What would a boy like you do with money he earned? Waste it all away on video games?"

"No!" I stated desprately, "I don't even play video games. I just want to save some money up. You know, in case I need it someday. I don't have a lot of money and I need to start now if I want to save for anything." It was the truth, but I wasn't going to tell him I was saving up to run away from home.

"I suppose I could use some help around the store after school." I went to thank him, but he held up a hand to cut me off, "But! Only for a week trial period, and then I'll decide if you are worth the trouble."

"Thank you!" I thanked profusely, "I promise I'm a hard worker!"

He chuckled again "We'll see. Come back tomorrow after school and I'll show you what to do." I nodded and ran out of the store to go home.

Of course, after the trial week, he gave me the job. It didn't pay much but it was all under the table, and as long as I was home by 8 and didn't ask for any dinner, the Dursleys didn't even care. I took over clerking for the old owner on the weekends, too, and in the summer was a regular full time employee for a while, when his own of the others left to join the army.

Nikols gave me a raise when I told him I was saving up to move out on my own and eventually, maybe, go to college. By then he had seen the bruises and gotten out of me that things were not that great at home with my uncle. He even found me an old bike for cheap, so that I didn't have to walk miles to school, work, and home anymore. For once I had money of my own, even though most of it went into a hidden lockbox in the cupboard that served as my room. Still, I used it to buy things like clothes that actually fit, mostly from the thrift store nearby, and food that I stored in my locker at school or hidden in my cupboard.

Over the next two years, I perfected my scheme of avoiding Piers and Vernon to an art, and had turned my life around. I never spent more time then necessary at home, leaving early morning right after I made the Dursleys' breakfast. I made it to school a minute before first bell, preferring to be late for homeroom than have a run-in with Piers and be late for homeroom with a split lip and a welt from the guard's stick. In between classes was when I had to be especially careful of running into the Polkiss Pack, but over time, and from training from Dudley's Harry Hunting from years before, I got adept at dodging them.

At lunch, I would go to the library instead of the cafeteria and use the computers there. Sometimes, the Pack would get bored and decide to crash the library, but they never dared upset the librarian there, and I could deal with them throwing stuff at me because they got bored with that easily. I would go straight to the store right after school, even though my shift didn't start right away, and I would do my homework in the staff room in the back while I heated up a hot pocket for snack. I still had to be home by 8 or Aunt Petunia would lock the door and I would have to sleep in the shed, but I got in at least three hours of work a day.

When I got home, I would take a quick shower while the Dursleys were downstairs watching the TV before locking myself in my cupboard for the night. Using a flashlight I would finish my homework, read, or draw for a while. On weekends, I would still leave before breakfast and not get home until 8pm, making sure to avoid all of Piers and Dudley's usual haunts. It wasn't a fool proof plan, and I still got caught by Uncle Vernon or Piers' gang sometimes, but it got me through those first few years at Stonewall.

My break finally came the October I was 15. There on the adverts board in the store was an ad that stated "Roommate Needed: Rent Cheap!" in bold purple ink. It turned out that three local students and one of their girlfriends had an open room and needed some extra money for rent. I knew one of them, Fred, because he stopped by the store almost everyday and would often chat with me. It was him that got me in, I think, because the others weren't sure about living with a 15 year old.

George, the one with the girlfriend, went on about how he'd have to refrain from sex to protect my innocence, and his girlfriend Angelina scoffed saying, "Yeah, like that will stop you!" I soon found out that it wouldn't.

With a farewell 'fuck-you' to the Dursleys, I moved out of the suburban townhouse on Privet Drive in the Little Whinging complex, and into my new apartment.

My new room was the former dining room with sheets hung up for privacy, but it was better than a cupboard under the stairs. It even had a window, and I used the built in buffet as my dresser and book shelf. The bed was a beat up futon, which used to be Angelina's before she moved in with Fred's twin George, and no longer needed her own bed. It was just over $200 a month, and after saving up for so long he could afford it. If nothing else, it was heaven to get away from the Dursleys.

It was just around the corner from work, too, and now that I didn't have an 8pm curfew, I could stay longer and even do some night shifts. I had to be careful and go to school, though, because if I missed too much, they would contact the Dursleys and things could turn to shit very quickly. I knew, from looking up some law stuff on the internet at the library, that I had to wait until I was 16 to quit school. If I missed too much school, child services would be called in, and they would either make me move back in with Vernon or put me in a foster home. Both things I really did not want to happen. After I finished my sophomore year, I left Stonewall High and never looked back. Over that summer, I turned 16, and legally never had to go back to school.

That summer I found a second job at a factory, and started working overtime and sleeping when I could. I felt really good then, because I was on my own for once, eating well, sleeping well, and for the first time ever I had friends. The twins, Fred and George Weasleys, were loud and obnoxious, but in a good way that Dudley could never have been.

George and Angelina were living in sin, much to Mrs. Weasley's dismay, and had yet to tell her that they were engaged. He and Fred were studying at the community college to get a degree in business, while trying to start up a comic book store. At that point, it was all on eBay, but they were already doing pretty well for themselves. They were the talk of some kind of forum on the internet, and word spread quickly about their products in high schools across the country. They even saved up enough to buy a server so they could have a real web catalogue, instead of using eBay.

Of course it meant that there were boxes full of comics and strange figurines lying around, but I didn't mind. I even helped them fill orders when I had free time. We got in an argument about that, because they felt they needed to pay me like a real employee, but I told them that if they supplied me with take-out Chinese food while I was working, I would consider things even.

Angelina was also from the same neighborhood as the twins, but she didn't go to the community college with them. Instead, she was commuting into the city to study at one of the universities there. In a way, by default, I guess, she was the mother of the apartment, taking on the roll of scolding us if we didn't clean up, or nagging us about being lazy and playing video games all day. Well, not really all of us. I never played the video games, and washing up, cooking, and making my bed had been ingrained onto me by an obsessive compulsive aunt. Fred even called me the 'prodigal son' because she would mention how much I cleaned or made dinner for us all, just to make him them feel guilty. Still, Angelina often got on my case about working too much, none-too-subtlety hinting that I should go back to school. She was the only one I told that I did want to go to college someday, but that was mostly to get her off my back.

Lee Jordon was our other roommate, and the twins' best friend from way back. He was going to school for music recording and had a part time job as at a smalltime radio station. He had shelves full of CDs, records, and tapes, and whenever he was home there was always music playing, even when everyone was asleep. It was a huge difference from the quiet of Privet Drive, and even though it took a while to get used to, I loved it.

All four of them played soccer at least once a week in a nearby park with some of their friends from the college, and sometimes, when I didn't have a shift, I joined in. They usually played girls against guys, but I was put on the girls' team "to keep things even." Angelina's friends Katie and Alicia played with her on the girls' team in high school, and they made a strong offence. The twins made up for it by their defensive playing. Whenever their high school captain and keeper Oliver wood came to play, and I was on the girls' side, the balance between offensive and defensive kept anyone from scoring at all. Lee usually liked to sit out and make humoristic commentary from the sidelines. Oliver, who was now captain of his college's team and being heavily recruited for the MSL, would always shake his head and say, "We would make a hell of a team if there were ever a co-ed league out there. Not meant for kids or masters, I mean."

Angelina would laugh and reply, "We'll just have to wait until we're all old, I guess."

Through my roommates, I met all sorts of people. Their friends were all great, but I got on especially well with the twins' brother and sister. There were seven Weasley kids altogether, and they grew up cramped in a four bedroom house, not much different from the Dursley's. Of course, at the Dursleys, Dudley had two of those bedrooms, and another was a guest room for whenever Vernon's sister came downstate for a visit.

At the Weasley's house, the Burrow, as they called it, all nine of them lived in close quarters. Since there were so many of them, it wasn't always easy financially, but if anyone understood how to live life big off of little, it was me, so we understood each other. Mrs. Weasley immediately adopted me when the twins first introduced us and told her my life story. It was embarrassing, and she still fusses over me whenever I go over to see her. It was surreal when I realized she was treating me like I really was her son. Ginny and Ron were closest to my age, and we instantly got along when we first met. They started coming over more to visit me than the twins and Fred constantly teased me about it – especially about Ginny crush on me.

It was when Ron was complaining about the SATs that I started really thinking seriously about college. Angelina didn't help much by her pushy attitude and she bought me a stack of books to practice for the GED for Christmas. Ron convinced his friend, who was a genius by his description, to tutor me a couple nights a week for several months. It was frustrating but rewarding, because when I took the test a month before my 17th birthday, I passed, thanks to Hermione and Angelina's pushing. I had two parties that July, one for the results and one for my birthday. I wanted to say no to two parties, but realized the twins just wanted something to celebrate.

The first party had a cake with "CONGRATS HARRY!" written on it, and my number score written bellow that. I think Hermione actually cried when she learned the score and hugged me so hard I actually bruised.

Mrs. and Mr. Weasley were there as well, and they told me that when I was ready to go to college, they would buy me a brand new laptop computer. I tried to refuse, but Arthur reassured me that he often got discounts on computers through his work, and that if anyone deserved the gift it was me.

What was strange was that other people gave me gifts as well – sometimes even checks. It was highly embarrassing, but Hermione reassured me that "All students get gifts at graduation parties, and technically, this is yours."

I realized then that had I stayed at the Dursleys and not quit school, I wouldn't have had a graduation party, or even anyone to have it with. That made me see how much my life had truly changed for the better.

I decided to enroll part time in courses at the community college, and quit my job at the general store. Nikols said he was happy to see me go. I took that the way he probably meant it, that he expected me to go on to bigger and better things.

I smiled and told him that I was planning on apply to a school where they taught architecture so that I could build him the house he wanted upstate. He smiled and told me not to come back until I had the plans drawn up.

It was strange to be enjoying school for the first time ever. In high school, I was too preoccupied with not getting beat up by the Piers Posse and the teachers all thought I was a troublemaker and could spare time on me. There classes were chaos. The students heckled the teachers and didn't really care about learning anything, and the teachers were just overworked, frustrated professionals who were forced into the role of circus master. I did pretty well on tests and assignments when I was still in school, but it almost wasn't worth it.

When I started classes, things were obviously different from high school. Since I was working all day still at the factory, I took evening and weekend courses. The other people in the class were mostly older than me, with jobs that kept them from studying full time. I was nervous my first day, since I didn't know what to expect, but everything turned out great.

Hermione even joined me, by auditing an evening photography course, and was a bit annoyed that I did better than her. She didn't stay on for the follow-up course in the spring. I took art courses, math, and physics, as well as a basic computer class to learn how to use the programs and type correctly. It cost a bit to take each course, but it was worth it, and I had some saved up from working for so long and being so frugal.

In the fall, Ron and I took the SATs together – he was taking it again because he wasn't happy with a 1040 – and started seriously looking at colleges. We both decided to stay in the metro area, so that we could still hang out and go to his mom's for Sunday night dinners. He wanted to study computer science and I wanted to study architecture, and we both pretended to know why the other wanted to do that. I chose three schools in the city, submitted my applications by Christmas, after having Hermione look them over, and waiting in anticipation for the response. Ron only chose two, but had an obvious favorite, and it was one of my three choices as well. He went on about how much fun we could have studying at the same school. Meanwhile, I kept tight mouthed about it, hoping not to jinx anything.

Hermione was busy applying to colleges herself, arguing with her parents about what she wanted to study and where. In the end, her top choice was deemed "not good enough" for her because it wasn't a top seated school, or even a private university. Her mom wanted her to go to her alma mater, but Hermione didn't want to leave the city. On top of everything, she was facing the stress of taking to many AP courses her senior year, and was on the verge of a nervous breakdown half of the time.

In the spring, Ron and Hermione started taking me to their school events, like the school play, in which Ron proved to be a rather good actor, but a horrible singer. I got to know their friends, and see what a good high school was actually like. They all cringed when they heard I had gone to Stonewall, and Hermione admitted that even she would quit high school if she had to go there. There was almost an unspoken regret that I didn't go to school with them. I couldn't bear to dwell on that too long.

I had my first boyfriend that spring as well, proving once and for all my suspicions were true. I had started wondering when my only date with a rather androgynous (Hermione's word) Asian girl from our photography class turned into a disaster. Later, when I found out that Fred's preferences by stumbling across his laptop's porn collection, I found myself a little too interested in things with "Twinks" or "Bears" in the title. Especially particular parts of myself.

Ron's friend Dean was an artist. Some days, when I was off work early, I came by the school to watch the school's soccer team practice. While Ron and his best friend Seamus played, Dean and I drew together on the bleachers. Dean was the one to start the flirting, and my first reaction was to blush to a shade that matched the team's jerseys. After a while, I started flirting back, until one day he asked me out on a date.

That day, he had been really quiet most of the practice, and he barely even drew anything unless I pointed that out. Finally, he blurted out the question, "Will you go out with me?"

On the date, he took me out to lunch in the Village. We walked around a bit afterward, window shopping, then sat in Washington Square talking. He had insisted on paying for everything, which made me a little uncomfortable.

"Only fair," he said, "Since I'm the one who asked you out." So, the next weekend, I invited him over and made him dinner. Since we had no dining room table, we ate on the coffee table next to my futon.

We were sitting there talking and laughing when he leaned over and kissed me. It was only my second kiss, but scores better than the one with Cho Chang. I didn't really know what to do with my hands, so they ended up on his shoulders, while his ended up in my hair. The kiss deepened and my glasses were pushing uncomfortably into my face, but I didn't care. I realized that I had a boy technically in my bed, and we were practically horizontal now, and something in me started to panic.

"What's wrong?" he asked, noticing immediately that I was starting to freak out.

I laughed nervously and explained it to him, "This is my bed." I pointed to the futon we were sitting on. "I have a boy in my bed, and until you asked me out I didn't even know I was gay." It didn't really explain what I was feeling, but he seemed to understand. After a minute or two, we even started laughing about it.

"That's okay," he said. "We probably should go too far anyway. I don't want to jump into things too fast. I-" he paused and bit his lip, "well, I've never been with a boy in a bed before either."

That was about the time the twins and Angelina bounded into the apartment. They took one look at the two of us, with what must have been deer-in-the-headlights looks on our faces, and burst out laughing. Dean decided to take that as his cue to leave, and with one last kiss in the relative privacy of the hall, I showed him out. I got back at them by switching Fred's talcum with the itching powder they sold, and pouring salt into George's milk at breakfast, and they were actually too proud of corrupting me to be mad.

Dean and I dated for most of that semester, and eventually moved to that level. It wasn't exactly what I was expecting, but people are right when they say that the first time's never that great. Luckily, this time, Fred and George didn't barge in on us and we had the apartment to ourselves. That first time at least, but after a while we didn't care as much who was in the apartment.

Meanwhile, that spring, acceptance and rejection letters came to us all. Some of the schools had rolling admission, and those letters came earlier. The college Ron and I applied to together was one of those, and we both got in.

When I opened the letter, I could hardly believe it. Some part of me believed that people would look down on a high school dropout, even if he had his GED and good SAT scores. I posted the acceptance letter to the fridge so that I would see it everyday, and that I didn't have to actually tell Angelina or the others with words that I got in. I was half asleep in my room when she first noticed it that night, and she came squealing and bouncing into my room hugging me out of sleep. I was excited, too, but I didn't allow myself to be, because I didn't believe it was real, and I still had two schools to hear from.

Ron was ecstatic about getting into the school, and kept reminding me that if I didn't get into my top choice, we could be roommates and even take classes together. He didn't even care about the other school he applied to, because City College was where he wanted to go.

Hermione of course, got into all the schools she applied to and was having a right time in choosing. Surprisingly, her first choice was City College, as well, though her parents thoroughly disapproved. She also got into her mom's old school and another top notch private school out of state, both of which were her parents' choices. Finally, she had applied to the Ivy League school right in the city, but admitted to me that she didn't like it because it seemed too big and wasn't what she wanted. I didn't really know what to tell her, so I told her that whatever choice she made, it wasn't the end of the world, and in the case of colleges, it wasn't even the final answer. She took that to her parents and somehow convinced them to let her go to City College.

It was the first week in April that I heard from the other two schools. The first letter I got was from my last choice school, which rejected me. Like any rejection, it stung, but I posted the letter on the fridge next to the City College letter and resigned myself to fate. My top choice school was pretty selective, I figured, and only let in a couple dozen to the architecture program every year, so I figure it was a long shot to get in. I even started looking at course catalogues with Ron, planning what classes we could take together.

When the letter finally came, I could hardly breathe. I put in the chest pocket of my work coveralls and carried it around that way for half the day. After work, I biked through blocks traffic to the park near Little Whinging, where Dudley used to chase me with Piers. I'm not quite sure what led me there. I had a feeling that if the thickness of the envelope really meant what everybody said it did, opening it there would be akin to spitting on the past.

Hands shaking, I split open the envelope with my house key and pulled out the top paper, reading:

"Dear Mr Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted…"


End file.
